TENNIS in DEPTH.

Ernests Gulbis came through a marathon battle with Rainer Schuettler to seal his place in the third round of the Thailand Open in Bangkok. The fourth seeded Latvian took the first set 7-4 in the tie-break, but his German opponent hit back by doing the same in the second. But Gulbis did just enough in the decider to finally win a match that lasted just short of three hours.

Third seed Jurgen Melzer enjoyed a more comfortable passage through as he beat David Sela 6-3 6-4 while Daniel Brands overcame a second set wobble to knock out sixth seed Thiemo De Bakker 7-6 (7-2) 1-6 7-6 (9-7).

Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat France’s Florent Serra 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 7-5. In the day’s only first round game Germany’s Benjamin Becker was a 6-1 6-4 victor over compatriot Mischa Zverev. Becker will now meet number two seed Fernando Verdasco.

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Ernests Gulbis marked his return from injury with a straight-sets win in the first round of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles.

The Latvian, out since May with a hamstring injury suffered at the French Open, saw off Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 7-5 7-5.

“It was a tough win because I didn’t feel the ball really well today,” the fifth seed told the ATP World Tour’s offical website.

“Today’s match I didn’t care how I played. I just wanted to win whatever score, to get some wins going. If I play more matches I’m going to get better.”

Sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic enjoyed a gentle run-out as he beat Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-1 6-0.

Rainer Schuettler also progressed courtesy of Horacio Zeballos’ retirement.

The German was a set and 3-0 ahead when his opponent was forced off court with a shoulder injury.

Dudi Sela won the day’s late game, claiming a 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.

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Gulbis was a seeded casualty on Sunday’s opening day of the tournament – being forced to quit his clash with Julien Benneteau while two sets down.

The 23rd seed appeared to tweak muscle in his upper thigh during the second set, although by that stage he was already a set and a break down against an opponent playing some impressive tennis.

The Frenchman has been inspired by playing at his home Grand Slam in the past – he made the quarter-finals here in 2006 – and that was the case again as he took the first set 6-4.

Gulbis tried to fight on after lengthy treatment in the locker room but was unable to prvent Benneteau winning the second set 6-2.

And when Gulbis was broken in the opening game of the third set he decided enough was enough and offered his hand to his opponent.

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Roger Federer reached the third round of the Madrid Masters following a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory over Germany’s Benjamin Becker.

Top seed Federer broke Becker’s opening service game and then broke the German again to close out the first set.

Becker fought back well in the second set and survived two match points at 6-5 and another in the tiebreak before losing to his Swiss opponent.

Briton Andy Murray plays against Juan Ignacio Chela on Wednesday.

Federer, 28, has made the final in three of the past four years, also winning in 2006, but has not claimed a title since lifting his 16th grand slam at the Australian Open in January.

Argentine Chela booked his meeting with Murray having barely broken sweat after first-round opponent Pablo Cuevas retired during their match with just two games played.

Meanwhile, Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis beat Estoril Open champion Albert Montanes of Spain 7-5 6-1.

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis recorded a 6-3 6-4 win over Marco Chiudinelli and 15th seed Stanislas Wawrinka beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-4 6-4.

In the women’s competition, second seed Caroline Wozniacki fell 6-2 6-3 to Alona Bondarenko in the second round.

Other seeds also fell on Tuesday. Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder fought back from a set down to beat number nine Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6 6-4 6-4, while Anabel Medina Garrigues eased past number 12 Marion Bartoli 6-2 6-0.

Number 14 seed Flavia Pennetta suffered a 7-6 6-3 defeat to Andrea Petkovic.

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After dazzling on court and in the press room all week, Ernests Gulbis finally bowed out, but not without a flourish

His performance against Rafael Nadal, No.3 seed, four-time Rome (and Roland Garros) champion was above and beyond what everyone expected, taking him to 4-4 in the final set before finally succumbing in a tie where he matched the king of clay blow for blow, winner for winner, for nigh on three hours.

“I started bad and in the first set I was a little nervous against him. In the second set I got into the game and I was playing much better. I got my backhand working, my forehand and my serve too, and I think he was pretty frightened to play on my forehand because I was pushing the ball quite hard and I was also dictating the pace. On clay it’s tough to hit my backhand because the ball comes higher. I did my best, I lost but it was good.”

“Honestly I expected a little bit more from him today,” he continued with his usual frankness. “I thought he was going to be much tougher on my backhand against his left-handed forehand with spin so I thought that was going to be tough, but actually I got into the game and didn’t have any problems in going into rallies with him. I knew it was going to be tough because it doesn’t really matter who is serving in the end. The last game of the match, I would have preferred him to serve. It was a little bit of extra pressure for me and I rushed things and tried to win the points too early or too fast. He just kept the ball in the court and he really didn’t do much in the last game. I made some mistakes – you don’t wait for him to make mistakes.”

“I hope I’ll be in form for the French Open and Wimbledon and I hope I don’t have to play against the top players right away because it’s the first matches which are the toughest ones,” he said of the forthcoming European Grand Slams. “I think I have a good chance in these tournaments if I’m stable enough, if I don’t go out of my mind and if I don’t take a holiday when I shouldn’t be taking one.”

The latter quip was a return to his trademark humour which is never far away in the press room, leaving fans and journalists alike counting the days until he is in action again in Madrid. When asked about the fact that Victoria Azarenka, Daniela Hantuchova and Melanie Oudin were watching his match today, a smile broke out. “Who was watching me play today? I’m becoming popular with the girls now! I’m flying home tonight and there in Latvia it is Saturday night…! (laughter) Vika is just an old friend and I think she likes the way I’m playing. I think she might want to learn something from me!”

After this week’s sterling performances, there will be plenty of players, WTA and ATP alike, who can learn from the Latvian.

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Rafael Nadal today survived a gruelling battle with Ernests Gulbis to remain on course for a fifth Rome Masters title.

Nadal needed two hours and 47 minutes to get the better of Latvia’s Gulbis in the Italian capital, eventually sealing a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory.

Gulbis, who beat world number one and French Open champion Roger Federer earlier this week, fired down 14 aces to none from Nadal, but could only convert one of his seven break points.

That was enough to help him level the match after Nadal had taken a hard-fought opener, but Gulbis was firmly on the back foot in the decider.

Nadal eventually took one of his six break points to edge ahead and held his nerve to complete a tough win.

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Roger Federer was dumped out of the ATP Rome Masters after a stunning turnaround in Tuesday’s second-round meeting with Ernests Gulbis.

A routine win looked on the cards when the top seed took the opening set 6-2, but the Latvian suddenly upped his game and claimed a 2-6 6-1 7-5 win in two hours three minutes.

The Swiss broke twice in an one-sided first set despite not being on top form, but Gulbis turned the match on its head in the second. He converted two of five break-point chances as Federer won just 11% of points on his second serve.

And the Latvian broke twice more in the decider as Federer, who will defend his French Open title next month, made just 46% of first serves to crash out of the tournament.

Second seed Novak Djokovic wasted little time in dispatching Jeremy Chardy.

The Serbian won 6-1 6-1 in 59 minutes to book his place in the third round.

Djokovic, winner in Rome in 2008 and runner-up last year, broke twice in the first set and three times in the second.

He did not face a single break point, winning 81% of points on his first serve and 83% on his opponent’s second.

But Juan Monaco, the 16th seed, went out, beaten 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 by Romania’s Victor Hanescu.

Hanescu made 85% of his first serves and converted three of his four break points to upset the Argentinian.

In the first round today, ninth seed Mikhail Youzhny was sent crashing out by Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

The former world number one beat the Russian 6-4 4-6 6-3 in just under two-and-a-half hours.

Despite only making 49% of first serves, the two-time Grand Slam winner won five of his seven break points to clinch victory.

Elsewhere, Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, runner-up to Djokovic two years ago, beat Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-1 6-2.

Spaniard Feliciano Lopez saw off Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-4 6-3 and Italy’s Simone Bolelli was a 6-4 6-1 winner over another German, Simon Greul.

Spain’s Nicolas Almagro came from a set down to beat Poland’s Lukasz Kubot 6-7 (3/7) 6-2 6-3.

Serbia’s Viktor Troicki also progressed to the second round. He was leading Thiemo De Bakker 3-6 6-1 1-0 when the Dutch player retired.

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Ernests Gulbis claimed his first ever ATP Tour title with a straight sets win over Ivo Karlovic at the Delray Beach International Championships.

The 21-year-old adapted to the blustery conditions better than second seed Karlovic to win 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 20 minutes.

Karlovic, who was celebrating his 31st birthday, had held 46 of his 47 service games to reach the final but was broken four times by the world number 72 who became the first Latvian to win on tour.

“Everything I do now is first time for my country,” said Gulbis, who was also playing in his first final.

“Of course it’s great. I hope it’s positive. I hope much more players will start to practise in Latvia.

“It’s good for tennis in Latvia. They see that a guy from Latvia also can make it and win an ATP World Tour event.

“I felt comfortable. I like being in the final. I felt nobody’s giving me pressure.

“It was really windy today; it was tough wind. I think he couldn’t get really good timing for the serve. He wasn’t hitting so many first serves in. I knew what I had to do against him.”

Gulbis had to fend off two break-point chances early before reeling off four consecutive games to win the opening set.

In the second set Gulbis broke to go 2-1 ahead before breaking Karlovic again in the ninth game to close out the match.

“He was playing really good. Everything that he hit was in,” Karlovic said.

“He was very cool, calm. Nothing could impress him. This year is going to be his breakthrough.”

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